High School Rock Stars!

To Do:

Secure your facility: At cabinet this week the following building security measures were discussed and were determined to be a priority to enforce for all schools from now to the end of the year.   Please see that you are following the guidelines below.  Truly nothing is new–but a good reminder if you have loosened up through covid. 

• Before school, there must be adult supervision both secure vestibule entries
• After the bell rings in the morning, all entrance to the building should be through the secure front entrance.
• Lock gates immediately when you walk away from morning entry and keep the perimeter secured all day.  Do not wait for the building engineer or Campus Safety and Security Officers to make his or her rounds to lock the gates.
• Doors should be locked at all times and not propped open
• If your school has hallway or classroom doors that open to the parking lot, or an area outside the perimeter fencing, these doors need to be locked at all times and not propped open
• Use Raptor for all guests and visitors and staff without ID.  That means no adults in the perimeter without a Raptor ID and visitor/volunteer purpose to be there. An adult should be positioned to supervise the use of Raptor
• Wear IDs, recess vests, and carry your keys (having your phone is a good idea as well)
• If you have any questions or need any assistance, let me know.

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Summer School Staff still needed:  Please pass this along to staff at your sites.  With the bulk of the positions filled, we are still seeking EA support across all levels (Jump Start, Spark, Base Camp and SPED/ESY).  In addition, we would like to add a few more teachers to the middle school Spark program, specifically at HDMS.  To apply, find “Careers in BLP Schools” and under “Internal Applicants” you can find open positions for summer employment.  The support for students is rewarding and stipends are substantial!  For more information, please contact Kevin Milner or Dean Richards.

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Last week of school schedule:  Be sure to communicate to your students and families that Wednesday, 6/15 is not an early release day.   Thursday, 6/16, the last day of school for students, is an early release day and students will be out at 11:55.  6/17 is a work day for staff.

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Staffing Plans -Please  keep your staffing plans updated with the most current names, positions and FTE allocations per staff member.

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Please share this info from Jenn: Counselors: Please remind your counselors that we have our end of the year planning retreat on Wednesday, June 8th from 2 pm to 4:30 pm at HDMS. 

The goals for this last meeting include celebrating the hard work we have all put in over the last year, collaborating around tiered interventions, and providing time for teams to begin (or continue/improve) program calendaring for the 2022-23 school year.

SSC: Our SSC’s will be meeting at Miller’s Landing between 1:30-4:00 on June 8th. We will have some refreshments, treats and resources for summer to help you all to stay connected with your students. 

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From Kinsey – This newsletter includes upcoming equity-related learning events and community engagement FUN for you and your staff.  

Thank you for sharing this info in different ways (linking in your blog, posting near the copier, mentioning in a staff meeting) so staff of different roles, schedules, and tech tools have access.  Also, can you ask please ask all your bilingual staff to complete this quick Yes or No form?  Thanks!

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Information:

Nutrition News from Garra was recently shared with families: Regulations for summer lunch and next school year have changed significantly. All waivers extended during the pandemic emergency will end on the last day of the 2021-2022 school year.

For summer lunch meals will continue to be free to all children 18 years and under but now the meal will have to be eaten on site and grab and go or parent pick up is no longer an option.

For next school year, school meals will be paid, free, or reduced price which will require an application to be completed after Aug 1^st, except for students attending community eligibility provision (CEP) schools. The CEP schools for 2022-2023 are: Bear Creek Elementary, Ensworth Elementary, Pilot Butte Middle, Bend Tech Academy at Marshall High, Three Rivers, La Pine Elementary, La Pine Middle, La Pine High, and Rosland Elementary.

More people may qualify for the meals program due to the Student Success Act. The State of Oregon supports students who do not qualify for free and reduced meal benefits using federal income guidelines. It provides meal benefits to households with incomes above 185% but not exceeding 300% of the federal poverty guidelines. This means that a family of 4 with an annual income of $79,500 could qualify for meals at no cost. Families are encouraged to apply if they think they may qualify.

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FAN services over the summer: The school FAN offices are closed in the summer, but advocate Perla Ruiz will be providing coverage for our families. All the FAN Advocates will have Perla’s contact information on their voicemail and auto email replies. Advocates refer any families of concern to Perla in June so she can connect and provide support over the summer. Perla does not have access to funds, but she will work with families on resources and referrals for food, clothing, dental, vision, medical/OHP, utilities, and housing support needs. 

Perla’s contact information: [email protected], phone 541-355-5683 and text 408-758-0472

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From Michele Oakes: As many of you know, we launched BLS’ Beginning Administrator Mentor (BAM) program this year.   Our goal was to support our new (1^st and 2^nd year) administrators as they launched into a new career pathway.  Our focus of support included daily administrative and leadership needs, as well as, building a better understanding around the role that equity plays at a building and systems level.

We received great feedback and will be modifying the program for 2022-23.  Based on initial data, we will have at least 15 beginning administrators next year.  We need you!  Here is a link to a BAM Interest form which will help us determine who is interested in supporting our beginning administrators.  This information will also help us make more intentional and strategic matches.  Mentees will not be matched with their building principals or evaluators in order to provide confidential spaces for them to grow and learn.

We are working on creating a structure for meetings that align to your existing meetings.  There will also be required meetings, PD and a stipend.  More details to follow.

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Calendar:

June 8: Equitable Grading HS/MS, ICCL presentation @ BSHS Perseverance Hall 3:30-4:30

June 9: MVHS Graduation @ 7:00 pm

June 10: LPHS Graduation @ 7:00 pm

June 11: BSHS and SHS Graduations, both @ 10:00 am

June 13: BTA@MHS Graduation @ 7:00 pm

June 14: Realms HS Graduation @ 7:00 pm

June 15: Full day on Wednesday for students

June 16: Early release and last day for students

June 17: Last Day of School for staff

June 21: All Admin breakfast  from 8:00-9:30 AM @ Ed Center

June 24: Principals only breakfast and work session 8-11 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall.

Think abouts…

From Dave Van Loo: Some of our teachers are concluding a “cause and effect” relationship between the establishment of the 50% floor and high absenteeism. Below are data that should provide useful and informative context. Please forward this information to your teachers.

Chronic absenteeism this year has skyrocketed at our elementary schools, where there is no such thing as a “50%/no zeros grading rule”. The same trend shows at our middle schools. A quick Google search reveals that increased absenteeism has been a huge national issue since the start of the pandemic. In light of all these data, it is incredibly hard to fathom that this one change in grading would be a cogent, defensible, or probable causal factor explaining attendance trends.

To me, maybe the most interesting and important piece of this discussion is if we could assume that this one change in practice is the primary causal factor in HS attendance. What would that tell us if this were the main determinant of whether students come to school? Might it tell us that–

• We’ve created systems that teach students to prioritize and value grades over learning? The most important thing for students isn’t what content they remember and use 1, 5, or 10 years in the future, but what grade they received?
• Grading is more a transactional tool for compensating students than a tool for communicating and providing feedback about their mastery of supposedly important content?
• Our best tool for motivating students is not ensuring that every day, in every class, all students experience a culture that builds human connection, competence, purpose, belonging, and lifelong learning – but the threat of low grades as punishment?

There is no doubt a serious problem in that situation, but the problem is not within the student.

There is a massive body of evidence that students’ engagement in school predictably declines with each major transition from elementary to middle, and middle to high. Is it just a coincidence that this maps so neatly with typical changes in grading practices and increasing weight given to grades?

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A read shared by Dave Van Loo: We have not yet grasped the level of learning loss our students have experienced during our pandemic and what it will take to help them recover: https://teachlikeachampion.com/blog/q-just-how-much-is-22-weeks-of-lost-instruction/.

To Do:

Secondary administrators: plan to join the Equitable Grading Think Tank on June 8^th to hear the final recommendations the team drafted.  We will be meeting in Perseverance Hall at Bend Senior High at 3:30-4:30 to talk about the process, outcomes, and next steps.  Please ensure your admin team and 2-3 ICCL team members can join.  This is a teacher workday SIW so their time can come from the ICCL extra 60 hours requirement.  We look forward to seeing you there.

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Please share this with your Staff: For the last several years (minus the lost year to CoVid) Bend-La Pine has put on an amazing conference. The incredible teachers of Bend-La Pine share with their peers the beautiful work that they have been doing. Along with national level speakers, BLP teachers share the innovative work that happens in our schools every day. 

We are excited to bring the Innovative Teaching and Learning Conference back again this year with over 30 educators sharing what they are doing in their classrooms every day. 

You can register at this link. Click on the Sections tab part way down the screen to see the registration.

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Information:

From Lora: Andrea Wilson has posted the corrected/amended calendar for 22-23 school year. Here are links to the calendars: Bend & South County, BTA@ Marshall. Just so all of you know, we are providing one additional work day/training day on next year’s calendar: Thursday, February 2^nd, the day before the end-of-semester teacher work day:

• For certified staff, this will be a WORK DAY. The district will be participating in a systems performance review, and one part of that process will involve teachers’ submissions of sample assignments, student work, etc. Teachers will have the 2^nd to complete these tasks.
• All classified staff WILL report on the 2^nd, as well. Supervisors may use this as a training day. This would be a great time for EA training, as well.

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From TLC – For the last several years (minus the lost year to CoVid) Bend-La Pine has put on an amazing conference. The incredible teachers of Bend-La Pine share with their peers the beautiful work that they have been doing. Along with national level speakers, BLP teachers share the innovative work that happens in our schools every day. We are excited to bring the Innovative Teaching and Learning Conference back again this year with over 30 educators sharing what they are doing in their classrooms every day. You can register at this link. Click on the Sections tab part way down the screen to see the registration.

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Luna Dollars for 22-23: Next year, we will again allocate 12 hours per school/per week to each school to use to pay teachers for after school support or in school support during period 7. Send those time sheets to Dean.

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GED Testing: We will continue GED test support/testing at our schools next year through our OSSM’s. Students will have the option to take only the subject area test(s) they need for credit versus taking the entire battery of tests. Students must be 16 and at least a year behind (7.5) in credits. This is NOT a speed boat option, but rather a life boat plan to be used in rare circumstances. Approval should be given by the principal and the student’s counselor. The expectation continues to be to serve GED students at our home schools and NOT to refer them to COIC unless there are extenuating circumstances. Amy Tarnow is our lead for GED, so please reach out to her with questions.

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From Scott in IT – Hotspot questions are starting to be the “hot” item.  Here are a few frequently asked questions:

Do students have to return their hotspots on the last day of school No, instead please allow your families who are using district provided hotspots to continue using them for summer learning opportunities.

Do Athletic program hotspots need to be returned by the last day of school? Yes- These devices are not managed the same.  If you do not return it, we will not be able to get activated again for you in the fall. 

Will we continue to support hotspots for families next year? I hope not!  Many of our students and families who need hotspots also reside in areas without reliable connectivity.  We are working to find a community partner who will provide  a more robust connectivity solution to support families beyond the academic needs of their children.   Since this is still a work in progress, hotspots will be available as our parachute in the fall.

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Calendar:

HERE is the calendar for meetings for the year

Here is a sample Learning Walk schedule you can use as a guide to plan that visit.

SIW schedule

June 8: Equitable Grading HS/MS, ICCL presentation @ BSHS Perseverance Hall 3:30-4:30

June 9-June 14: Graduations!

June 17: Last Day of School!

June 21: All Admin Breakfast 8:00-9:30 @ Ed Center/Room 314

June 24: Principals only breakfast and work session 8-11 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall.

Dave shared this article from The 74 about one of the long term impacts of COVID on post secondary planning.

To Do:

At our HS Admin work session this Tuesday, we will be discussing our equitable grading work. Some of you may have ready this article by Thomas Guskey, The Case Against Percentage Grades. If you have not, please read it in preparation for our discussion.

Important Reminders:

Instructional Tools Update: As of 5/20, we have received requests for instructional tools from just over 12% of class preps.  On Monday 5/23,  Instructional Technology staff will be sending a follow up email to all staff who have not yet responded.  This follow up email will come from ‘BLP Instructional Technology’ and will have the subject ‘BLP Instructional Tools Requests.’  Teachers have until June 3 to request both digital and physical tools/texts for next year.  Please remind your staff to respond by June 3. 

Please make sure your teachers understand this is the way to ensure they have their curriculum materials ordered and received in a timely manner for the fall. Any questions can be directed to Austin James and Dean Richards.

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Evaluation reminder – Check in with me ASAP is you have questions/concerns about completing your certificated AND classified evals. This is the time of year you are meeting with each certified staff member to review their summative evals, check in that you both agree that minis and SLGGS have been completed and both of you have digitally signed off prior to June 16. This includes completing your last mini observation for every certified staff member, as well as their SLGGs.

As a reminder we are focusing on Domains 1, 5 and standards 3.13, 4.16, and 6.24.  Here is the memo on evals from earlier in the year. 

Administrators need to sign off on the following via TalentEd Perform prior to leaving for the summer: self evaluation, fall and spring SLGG digital docs, summative evaluation.

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Projecting/announcing Val and Sal: Plan to project your school’s Val and Sal for the class of 2022 and be ready to announce these folks next Friday, May 27 – not before. Be ready to submit a quick write up and photo of each student to Alandra by the end of that day.

Information:

From Lora –   Here is the information about next year’s pre-service week that we discussed at our meeting on Monday. By next week, information will be going out to staff regarding district inservice requirements and options. Please wait to share this calendar with staff until they have that information. Let me know if you have any questions!

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From Steve Cook – All admin are invited to breakfast at the Education Center Tuesday, June 21st, from 8:00-9:30 AM. This is a chance to honor our retirees and recognize leaders who are leaving the district. Hope you all can make it!

Calendar:

May 24: HS Admin Work Session 8:00-9:30 @ Caldera HS 

May 27: Val and Sal announced – send student photos and info to Alandra!

June 17: Last Day of School!

June 21: All Admin Breakfast 8:00-9:30 @ Ed Center/Room 314

June 24: Principals Only breakfast and work session 8-11 @ BSHS Perseverance Hall.

To Do:

From Kinsey:  District Equity Stance:   Now that each horizontal group has had time to discuss the first draft of the district Equity Stance, we’d love to capture any additional feedback you’re willing to offer!     Draft here, and feedback tool here.

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From Kinsey:  CFEE Workshop:  Coaching for Educational Equity is a truly impactful and intensive experience that will definitely change your perspective on education in Oregon.  It’s two-day version, “Taking It Up,” is wonderful, but the full four-day version is a pretty unique experience.  To date, many of our administrators, and some teacher-leaders, have attended CFEE.  We would love to see everyone attend.

We have two more opportunities coming up this summer–8:00am-3:30pm, virtual format, costs covered by district, 4 spots left for each of the following sessions:   June 27-30, or July 19-22.  First come first served–please reply to me ASAP if you’re interested in one of those dates!

The expectation is that every administrator attends CFEE. If you have not yet attended a session, please consider attending one of these two. Usually there are one or two offered during the school year, as well.

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Please share this opportunity from COIC with your students: COIC and Heart of Oregon Corps are offering a paid Wild land Firefighting Certification Course, June 13-17th.  There are 20 spots available and participants must be between the ages of 18-26.  This is a great opportunity for seniors graduating this year as the course will start the week after Bend-La Pine graduations.  To access the application link click HERE!
Feel free to forward this to anyone who works with this age group or who you think may be interested in this career. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to COIC’s course instructor: 

Matt Mahoney [email protected]
541-403-0099
Thank you,
Patrick JordanYouth Education Manager541-706-1458 : [email protected]

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Important Reminders:

From HR regarding ICCL hiring – Don’t forget to read Candy’s email from yesterday re: ICCL hiring. The goal is to have the ICCL hiring completed by June 30, 2022.  HR  understands this is a very busy season for all of you.  If you are not able to complete your ICCL hires by June 30, 2022,  please just communicate that with Candy and let her know what your plan is and your estimated timeline.  The stipend for the ICCL’s begins in September. 

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Evaluation reminder – Check in with me ASAP is you have questions/concerns about completing your certificated AND classified evals. This is the time of year you are meeting with each certified staff member to review their summative evals, check in that you both agree that minis and SLGGS have been completed and both of you have digitally signed off prior to June 16. This includes completing your last mini observation for every certified staff member, as well as their SLGGs.

As a reminder we are focusing on Domains 1, 5 and standards 3.13, 4.16, and 6.24.  Here is the memo on evals from earlier in the year. 

Administrators need to sign off on the following via TalentEd Perform prior to leaving for the summer: self evaluation, fall and spring SLGG digital docs, summative evaluation.

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Projecting/announcing Val and Sal: Plan to project your school’s Val and Sal for the class of 2022 and be ready to announce these folks Friday, May 27 – not before. Be ready to submit a quick write up and photo of each student to Alandra.

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From Lora re: Personal Days –  According to our collective bargaining agreement, certified staff may NOT take personal leave the last two weeks of school (June 6-17), unless there are “unusual or highly extenuating circumstances.” If you have a certified staff member request personal leave during that time, PLEASE MAKE SURE to forward the request to HR. We want to be consistent about what is approved. Additionally, remember the limit for personal days is 5% of your teaching staff. 

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A reminder from Lora – We rescheduled our final session for the year of Preparing to Lead Equitable Schools to Monday, 5/16, from 3:30-5:00 in the boardroom.  This may cause conflicts for some of you. Just let your level leader know if you will be unable to attend. Otherwise, we’ll see the rest of you on the 16^th!  Chapters 7-10 are the assigned chapters for this meeting.

Information:

from Kinsey:  District pronoun pins:  We now have Bend-La Pine Schools’ pronoun pins for your lanyards!  See this image. These are entirely optional, for folks who want to demonstrate allyship with the LGBTQIA+ community and who feel prepared to model responding to ‘why pronouns‘ if asked about their pin (don’t forget you can link that webpage in your email signature if you’re interested, too).    If you want one, connect with your building’s LEAD Cohort rep or GSA advisor.  We don’t have enough for our entire district workforce yet, so we’re starting with key leaders, to launch support and dialogue.

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From Lora: Historically, building principals have had the right to revoke Area Change Requests (ACR’s) if they had concerns about students’ grades, behavior, and/or attendance. In reviewing our ACR policies and practices, our district leadership determined this practice is at best open to inconsistent application and at worst subject to bias. Whether students come to our schools as neighborhood residents, ACR recipients, or inter-district transfer students, they should be considered part of our student population and be treated equitably. Therefore, the district has decided to discontinue the practice of revoking ACR’s.

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From Patrick in IT: Below is timeline of tasks that will be completed over the summer.  The tasks affect Synergy and our third party systems such as Clever and Canvas.  Additionally, the timeline describes when student class assignments will be exposed and shared on ParentVue, StudentVue, Canvas and with Clever apps.  Now that we have additional services such as Canvas and the applications through Clever, along with providing opportunities to students over the summer, the need to expose student class schedules has shifted to earlier dates.

Date	Task description
July 8, 2022	Last day of setting the Next Year School field in Synergy.This includes Bend – La Pine Schools Online summer school extension.
July 10 – 15,2022(Sun – Fri)	Services turned off:Synergy (core) for all usersSynergy ParentVue and StudentVueSynergy Online EnrollmentSynergy:  New year rollover final tasks, patches, new release loaded.·      All Synergy user accounts are disabled.
July 10, 2022 through August 22, 2022	Services turned off:Synergy TeacherVue/Grade BookSynergy Teacher login accountsData ServicesStudent data shared with these services is ‘frozen’ (not refreshed) with 2021-22 data.Clever (provides data to DreamBox, PEAK/FuelEd, Lexia, etc)Canvas
July 18, 2022	Synergy:  Synergy will be set to the new year, 2022-23.Synergy core user accounts will be enabledServices turned on:Synergy (core)Online Enrollment*ParentVue and *StudentVue*The following menus/views in PVUE and SVUE remain OFF as they display class schedules:AttendanceGrade Book and GradeSchedule including homeroom assignment information
August 1 – 19, 2022	Summer SchoolServices turned on:Synergy summer school staff accounts (limited users)
August 22, 2022	High schools and middle schools:  Master scheduling tasks completeElementary schools: Class assignments complete
August 22, 2022	ALL SCHOOLSServices turned on:Synergy teacher login accountsClass schedules are visible in Synergy TeachervueParentVue and StudentVue:   Attendance, Schedule, Grade Book and Grade views.  This includes turning on class schedules for all schools, including elementary schools.Data ServicesStudent data shared with these services is turned on and the data will reflect 2022-23 data.  The data provided to these services will include class schedules.Clever (provides data to DreamBox, PEAK/FuelEd, Lexia, etc)Canvas

Much of these dates are similar to last year, however, I did add in the summer school window.  Also, we are planning to have students be able to access Clever and Canvas year round, unless there is guidance that contradicts that thinking. If you have questions or concerns about this information, please contact Patrick.

Calendar:

HERE is the calendar for meetings for the year

Here is a sample Learning Walk schedule you can use as a guide to plan that visit.

SIW schedule

May 16: Leading Equitable Schools Training 3:30-5:00 in the board room.

May 17: HS VP Work Session:  Management Calibration – Matrix and Synergy documentation 8:00-9:30 @ Ed Center Room 314

May 18^th: Counseling Celebratory Meeting, 2:00 – 4:00 pm @ Caldera High School in room 210.

May 19: Learning Walk 1:00-3:00 LA and SS @ LPHS

May 24: HS Admin Work Session 8:00-9:30 @ Realms HS (rescheduled from May 3)

May 27: Val and Sal announced

To Do:

From HR regarding ICCL hiring – Don’t forget to read Candy’s email from yesterday re: ICCL hiring. The goal is to have the ICCL hiring completed by June 30, 2022.  HR  understands this is a very busy season for all of you.  If you are not able to complete your ICCL hires by June 30, 2022,  please just communicate that with Candy and let her know what your plan is and your estimated timeline.  The stipend for the ICCL’s begins in September. 

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Evaluation reminder – You should be implementing your plan for completing your certificated AND classified evals so you have met with each certified staff member and both of you have digitally signed off prior to June 16. This includes completing your last mini observation for every certified staff member, as well as their SLGGs.

As a reminder we are focusing on Domains 1, 5 and standards 3.13, 4.16, and 6.24.  Here is the memo on evals from earlier in the year. 

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Projecting/announcing Val and Sal: Plan to project your school’s Val and Sal for the class of 2022 and be ready to announce these folks Friday, May 27 – not before. Be ready to submit a quick write up and photo of each student to Alandra.

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Finals and finals schedules: A few of you have reached out about holding finals at the end of the term AND designing a special finals schedule. In the past we have not had a unified approach to requiring finals. This is another opportunity for us to align – there are so many! Realistically, we may not give this topic the time it needs for discussion prior to the end of the year. So, at this point, if you are moving to run finals at the end of the term this should not involve a schedule change as this will impact shared staff at other middle and high schools.

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From our Information Tech Team regarding: ATTENDANCE ADVISORY TEAM MEMBERS
We are looking for building admins, office staff, and teachers to participate in a Bend-La Pine Schools Attendance Advisory Team.
A group of 28 BLS secondary staff members met on 4/27 to collaborate on attendance practices and policies. Changes at the District level were discussed, thus realizing that this group needs to expand to include elementary representation.  Here are the meeting notes.

Facilitating (not leading) is James Colestock who has 10 years of teaching experience, working within three of the nation’s largest school districts; Patrick Elliott who has 25 years of experience teaching and Student Information Systems as well as facilitating Springfield SD Attendance advisory team; Rachel Mavis 16 years BLS, knowledge of Oregon Attendance laws/policies and BLS attendance history.

Changes in attendance practices and policies must be driven by the people who are in the schools. We need YOU to take the lead.

Our next meeting is May 11 at 2:30 EDU Wall St lab.  Due to the end of the year, meetings will resume next school year.

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Student/Family Handbooks: As you update your student/family handbook for 22-23 publishing, please make sure to include some key equity-related information:

• Indicate the location and access for all gender-neutral bathrooms in your building
• Check that your dress code language aligns with district policy
• Consider adding information about expectations around bias incidents, to raise awareness on our district policy
• Skim for binary language (“girls/boys”) and replace with neutral options where possible (students, learners, they)
• Review your personal leadership Equity Stance document, and reflect on how clearly that stance shows up in language throughout your handbook
• Track your changes so you can submit the updated portions for translation
• Share other ideas for making handbooks more inclusive!

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From Jenn Hauth regarding counselors: We will are having our culminating high school counseling meeting/celebration on Wednesday May 18^th from 2:00 – 4:00 pm at Caldera High School in room 210.  We are looking forward to coming together one last time before the school year ends to celebrate our year and begin the process of planning for the next year.  Building leaders who oversee counseling are invited to attend!

Agenda: First: Celebration Power Point The slide will allow schools to showcase either a Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 intervention/program that they are excited about or that was successful. See slide deck for examples.

Second: Review Tiered interventions currently being implemented by school counselors at their site.

Third: Annual Calendars for collaborative work around tiered programming at each site

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Information:

From Lora: According to our collective bargaining agreement, certified staff my NOT take personal leave the last two weeks of school (June 6-17), unless there are “unusual or highly extenuating circumstances.” If you have a certified staff member request personal leave during that time, PLEASE MAKE SURE to forward the request to HR. We want to be consistent about what is approved.

Also, on a subbing note, once seniors have graduated, teachers of all-senior classes can be assigned to cover classes if subs are needed. As long as a teacher retains their normal prep period, these assignments do not need to be compensated.

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From Lora re: Equitable Schools Training – On May 9^th, a special gathering has been planned by other groups for our graduating seniors entering the military. Steve, Katie, and I, along with many of our high school principals, really want to attend this important event.  SO…we are rescheduling our final session of preparing to lead equitable schools until Monday, 5/16, from 3:30-5:00 in the board room. I understand this may cause conflicts for some of you. Just let your level leader know if you will be unable to attend. Otherwise, we’ll see the rest of you on the 16^th!

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Instructional Tools Update: The time to request new instructional tools (both physical and digital) for next year is here! We currently plan to send each teacher an email on Monday, May 9 outlining their classes for the current year and tools that have been inventoried.  As shown below, the email will include links to request new resources for next year via Google Form.  There will also be a link to request instructional tools for new classes.  As requests are received, we will evaluate each request using updated criteria.  It is our sincere hope that we provide a response for every request before teachers leave for the summer. 

A few scenarios and questions might arise.  Here are a few we have thought about:

• What if I’m teaching at a different school next year? Please fill out the form as if you were teaching these classes next year so that the new teacher is equipped and ready.
• What if I don’t yet know what I’ll be teaching next year? You have until June 3 to fill out the form. We can extend this date on a case by case basis.
• Will long term subs get a copy of these emails? We are making every effort to deliver to long-term subs but if a sub does not receive an email, please have them contact Austin James.
• How do I let you know which classes will not be taught next year?  You don’t need to!  If the current class isn’t on next year’s master schedule, we know it isn’t taught.

If you have any questions regarding the process or criteria, please contact Dean Richards or Austin James.

Here is a screen shot of what the teachers will receive:

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Reminder: From Alandra: Nominate a Student to be Featured in the Calendar: We are excited to feature students in our annual Calendar & Handbook, which is mailed home to all families in English and Spanish. The 2022-23 calendar will include professional portraits of students taken this spring as well as a short bio/quote. Our goal is to represent a wide range of students by highlighting a variety of backgrounds, ages, abilities and interests. Who would you like to see featured? Nominate an outstanding student today: https://bls.fyi/nominate (Due May 6). I’m happy to answer questions – Alandra.johnson@bend.k12.or.us.

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From Dean and our Secondary TOSA team: We have all seen students who are not engaged in school.  One way to increase their engagement is to increase their voice and choice in the their daily interactions in school.  This week’s blog gives a few instructional ideas to increase student agency.

Student Agency: Students as Leaders of Their Own Learning

Calendar:

HERE is the calendar for meetings for the year

Here is a sample Learning Walk schedule you can use as a guide to plan that visit.

SIW schedule

May 12: Learning Walk 1:00-3:00 LA and SS @ SHS

May 13: Principal’s Breakfast @ Original Pancake House 7:30

May 16 (rescheduled from May 9): Preparing to Lead Equitable Schools– Principals only 3:30-5:00 Ed Center, Room 314

May 17: HS VP Work Session:  Management Calibration – Matrix and Synergy documentation 8:00-9:30 @ Ed Center Room 314

May 19: Learning Walk 1:00-3:00 LA and SS @ LPHS

May 24: HS Admin Work Session 8:00-9:30 @ Realms HS (rescheduled from May 3)

May 27: Val and Sal announced

To Do:

From April about HSS Building and SIF Budgets: Earlier this week, I shared everyone’s HSS Planning documents for next year.   In order to keep things aligned with the three categories outlined by ODE, we are categorizing everything into three investments…1 – CTE Programs…2 – College-Level Programs…3 – Dropout Prevention.  You may have as many subcategories as you wish under these investments, but each subcategory must meet the requirements for one of these areas.  If you have any questions or if you need assistance with these documents, don’t hesitate to contact me.  HSS and SIF Budgets need to be completed by the end of May.

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New Process for Bilingual Staff – This process applies to all staff (admin, classified, certified).  Admin and supervisors are receiving this information now, as a heads-up prior to it being shared in the District Spotlight.  Once the Spotlight has been shared out, please reiterate the information to your staff via your blog or in a staff meeting.  

Blurb to be shared with your staff after May 2:

Are you bilingual?  Interested in earning a stipend to support occasional communication with our multilingual families?  

To learn more about this new opportunity for bilingual employees in Bend-La Pine Schools, see our CAFE Program overview.  To indicate your interest and to be contacted regarding a chance to ask questions and complete next steps, please complete the interest form (see item #6 of the overview).  

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From Alandra: Nominate a Student to be Featured in the Calendar: We are excited to feature students in our annual Calendar & Handbook, which is mailed home to all families in English and Spanish. The 2022-23 calendar will include professional portraits of students taken this spring as well as a short bio/quote. Our goal is to represent a wide range of students by highlighting a variety of backgrounds, ages, abilities and interests. Who would you like to see featured? Nominate an outstanding student today: https://bls.fyi/nominate (Due May 6). I’m happy to answer questions – Alandra.johnson@bend.k12.or.us.

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Curriculum Guide language related to equity and CTE: Stephen is involved in doing a civil rights audit for ODE. Through this process, we came across something we need to take corrective action on. According to ODE, we are required to do the following for our CTE programs:  

Prior to the beginning of each school year, recipients must advise students, parents, employees and the general public that all vocational opportunities will be offered without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.   

The notice must include a brief summary of program offerings and admission criteria and the name, office address, and phone number of persons designated to coordinate compliance under Title IX and Section 504. If a recipient’s service area contains a community of national origin minority persons with limited English language skills, public notification materials must be disseminated to that community in its language and the school must take steps to assure that the lack of English language skills will not be a barrier to admission and participation in CTE programs

Here is the verbage for the Title IX and Section 504 piece:
 The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the district’s non-discrimination policy: Title IX Coordinator: Human Resources Director, 520 NW Wall Street, Bend OR (541-355-1100 or [email protected]) 504 Coordinator: Assistant Director of Special Education, 520 NW Wall Street, Bend OR (541-355-1060 or [email protected])

Please add this language to your digital curriculum guides. Reach out to Stephen or me if you have questions.

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Scholarship Opportunity from Jackie Wilson: With great joy and sadness, the COCC Sustainability Committee and The Environmental Center would like to present The Alex Kollar Memorial Scholarship. Alex was a 2014 COCC graduate and one of the world’s most amazing human beings. Full of love, compassion, and connection to the natural world. He passed away last October, leaving behind a gaping hole… and a legacy to live life to its fullest. This scholarship was created to inspire COCC students to pursue sustainability education and community service with the same joy, hope, and impassioned determination with which Alex approached his life. Please pass this information along to any college-eligible student who might be interested.

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Also from Jackie Wilson: Please share this information about our statewide Green Career Fair on your community board: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/green-career-fair-online-tickets-295437650967

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Important Reminders:

From Dana regarding FAN Evaluation Feedback:  Last week, I included an email from Dana Pedersen regarding FAN Advocate evaluation feedback, please get her the information as soon as you can.  Here is the link to the rubric. For those of you that replied, Thank you!

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Please submit your safety plan AND indoor contingency plan for Graduation by May 2. We will review them at our May 5 COVID meeting. There are two circumstances that will require us to move graduation indoors and therefore need a contingency plan: unsafe smoke levels and lighting/thunder.

Be sure to allow a time during your ceremony in which Dr. Cook accepts the class.

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22-23 HS School design plans are due by May 13.   Here is the link to the School Design folder. HERE is a link to the essential questions Dave Van Loo prepared to guide thinking about plan design.

Information:

Visitor Update – Starting Monday, May 2, visitors will be allowed in schools at your discretion, for educational purposes and by invitation only, which is district policy. Follow this link to the conditions for visitors. 

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Sub shortage: We are continuing to struggle to cover classrooms during the ongoing sub shortage we are experiencing.  We are deploying Ed Center staff every day to try to support, but we are far from able to keep up.  The current situation is more challenging than when we returned from winter break.  Our priority is to staff schools that have more than one unfilled position. I appreciate the fact that our you generally cover your sub needs internally.  Our team is trying to balance supporting schools while also doing the things required for our own jobs.  The mantra for this year continues to be patience and grace!

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We have all had that experience where we hear another language and wonder what is being said.  For some of us it is during travel, others while we are in our home and come across a TV show with actors speaking other than English. 

We have a number of students who have this experience every day as they move toward becoming biliterate and Bicultural.  World Language TOSA Julie Montoya shares a look through the eyes of our native and non-native English speakers and how our worlds open up when we engage with other languages.

Going Global: World-Readiness Across The Board

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iPad info from our Tech Team: The summer iPad plan is ready. There’s a one-pager for staff and one for families. When and exactly how this plan is implemented is up to each school. Ideally a staff member at each school will be given time to walk students through end-of-year steps to clean up storage and update the iOS. Doing these things now will lead to an easier launch in the fall and lend to digital literacy in general. Please reach out to Instructional Technology or your school’s site tech with questions. 

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From Amy Tarnow about BLPO: Some pertinent information this week about end dates for PEAK classes-it’s always good to review our “when and why” before the questions come.  Please let me know if you need anything or have any questions.
https://blogs.bend.k12.or.us/amy.tarnow/2022/04/25/monday-april-25th/

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A note about Safety Drills from Julianne and Scott: A quick reminder that each of you has access to this drill tracking spreadsheet:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fN5BgudLFrYEK8L6cwZ-h6hlMGqAaQMIh3Q58zjAO4g/edit?usp=sharing_eil_m&ts=62695174

Thanks for making sure these drills are completed monthly.

Additionally, several school leaders have not completed lockDOWN, Secure, Shelter, Earthquake drills this year – those need to be completed by the end of the year. A full drill is required, standing up in front of students to talk about the protocol is not a substitute for a drill, by the way. We are counting on your support to ensure these get done. Thank you!

From our website…

In accordance with ORS 336.071 and OAR 581-022-2225 all schools in the district (including those operating a Comprehensive Distance Learning model) are required to instruct students on emergency procedures in the school setting and conduct drills to practice emergency procedures. Emergency drills will continue throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic as per existing rules, statutes, and board policy.

Drills can and should be carried out as close as possible to the procedures that would be used in an actual emergency. For example, a fire drill should be carried out with the same alerts and same routes as normal. If appropriate and practicable, COVID-19 physical distancing measures can be implemented, but only if they do not compromise the drill. 

Staff should be trained in changes to drills prior to return to school and conducting any drills in the school setting. All standard collaboration (i.e. fire department, alarm company) and documentation remains required. 

Links to Resources for Drills/Education:

These are from the Bend Fire Department: 

• Video from Fire Department
• Educational curriculum

This link is to the I Love U Guys Foundation and has videos/training for our Lockdown, Secure, Evacuation, and Shelter drills. 

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Notes from Kinsey about our Autistic Students: Although Autism Acceptance Month is coming to a close, we thought it valuable for our instructional leadership to educate ourselves regarding our autistic community, as part of our efforts to increase inclusion and belonging.  

Did you know:

• there are currently over 200 autistic students* in Bend-La Pine Schools;
• over 30 BLS employees identify as disabled and/or neurodivergent (not autistic specifically, but the closest data we currently have);
• the suicide rate is 40% higher for autistic compared to neurotypical people. 

*(Wondering why we didn’t say ‘students with autism’?  Check out this discussion of identity- vs. person-first language.)  

Here are some learning resources for you (if you don’t have much time, the two videos are your best bet).  

As you will see, this topic spans social-emotional learning; diversity, equity, and inclusion; instruction and differentiation; college and career prep; and inclusive workplace climate.  

Thank you for taking the time to reflect on the experiences of our autistic students, and how your leadership is key in promoting inclusion, belonging, and equity for our students with disabilities. 

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Dr Cook shared this helpful resource with our Cabinet that you will find useful: Supporting Transgender and Non-Binary Students.

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Amplify on The Rock  – Amplify, is hosting a community event called Amplify on the Rocks. They will be bouldering at The Circuit in North Bend. The goal is to provide a fun way for educators of color and aspiring educators of color to get together, network, and create relationships. Click here for the flier.

Calendar:

HERE is the calendar for meetings for the year

Here is a sample Learning Walk schedule you can use as a guide to plan that visit.

SIW schedule

May 3: HS Admin WS 8:00-9:30 @ Realms HS

May 5: Learning Walk 1:00-3:00 LA and SS @ MVHS

May 9: Preparing to Lead Equitable Schools– Principals only 3:30-5:00 Ed Center, Room 314

To Do:

FAN Evaluations: Please complete this RUBRIC and send your input about your FAN Coordinator to Dana by May 2.

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Important Reminders:

Please submit your safety plan AND indoor contingency plan for Graduation by May 2. We will review them at our May 5 COVID meeting. There are two circumstances that will require us to move graduation indoors and therefore need a contingency plan: unsafe smoke levels and lighting/thunder.

Be sure to allow a time during your ceremony in which Dr. Cook accepts the class.

22-23 HS School design plans are due by May 13.   Here is the link to the School Design folder. HERE is a link to the essential questions Dave Van Loo prepared to guide thinking about plan design.

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Information:

Curriculum Ordering Process: The time to request new instructional tools (both physical and digital) for next year is quickly approaching.  We currently plan to send each teacher an email in early May outlining their classes for the current year and tools that have been inventoried.  The email will include links to request new resources for next year via Google Form.  There will also be a link to request instructional tools for new classes.  As requests are received, we will evaluate each request using updated criteria.  It is our sincere hope that we provide a response for every request before teachers leave for the summer.  If you have any questions regarding the process or criteria, please contact Dean Richards or Austin James.

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From Kinsey – Bias Incidents: Curious about next steps with our bias incident work?  This timeline shows where we’ve been in recent years (a celebration of our collective efforts, considering the pandemic happening in the ‘background’), and where we’re headed next: short-term actions for this spring, as well as longer-term/ongoing work.

Your LEAD teacher (if you have one) will be trying out a lesson on Bias in their class.  Ask them about it and pop in if you get a chance.  These will not be taught school wide this year (except in the case of HDMS who is piloting it school wide). 

Note that the bold items occurring this April and May 2022 (second page) include some action needed on your part.  If you would like a mini-PD/calibration activity or protocol for re-visiting this topic with your staff, please reach out to Kinsey.  Remember that this tool is as much intended to facilitate partnership in responding to incidents, as it is to track and record data on the incidents themselves.  Thank you!

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Sub challenges are back: it feels as though we are back in January again, when we had so many teachers out with COVID and our Ed Center staff was spending a significant number of days subbing in schools because so many sub requests are unfilled. Thank you for continuing to monitor, and interrupt when possible, the number of subs that are out of your building. For example, if you have an athletic event and the teacher/coach can teach for part of the day, thank you for having them cover their classrooms for as much of the day as possible. Also, thank you for continuing to limit the percentage of folks on personal leave on a day to 5%. I appreciate your efforts to cover unfilled sub positions internally! Our high schools are masterful at this!

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From Jennifer Hauth: We have posted a full time counselor on special assignment (COSA) position for next year. The focus of the work will be K-12 but with a heavy emphasis on high school at first. The position will focus on program alignment, coaching, professional learning and adopting a comprehensive school counseling program at each site. Please send people my way if they have any questions.

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From Kinsey: Today is the Day of Silence.  We have students recognizing this day today–I can connect you with one of many staff members who are supporting the participating students across our schools, if you want to learn more.  

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From Colleen Behrens, Science TOSA: The saying that “Every Day Is Earth Day” is especially true today, because it IS Earth Day today.  Science TOSA Colleen Behrens has a list of resources that you can use to connect students with our planet.

Earth Day: Invest in Our Planet

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Pilot for Vaping Prevention Education

The district has approved for schools to pilot CATCH My Breath, a vaping prevention curriculum effective at preventing youth experimentation with vaping. 

The curriculum includes four 35-min lessons for 5-8^th grades and 9-12^th grades. It is a free curriculum, available through the CATCH.org online portal. 

School staff interested in piloting the CATCH My Breath program can follow this step-by-step guide. The guide provides instructions on how to access and navigate the most useful resources in the portal. The guide also provides all the links needed for the parent letter, teacher eval form, and student pre-/post- tests.

A parent/guardian notification letter, with an opt out option, should be provided to parents/guardians before piloting the curriculum and administering student pre-/post-tests, according to BLS policy KAB-AP. The parent notification letter included in the step-by-step guide provided everything needed to comply with this policy. 

We are testing and reviewing this curriculum as a part of our process to develop a K-12 Health scope and sequence. The K-12 Health scope and sequence and a thorough review of current and potential supplemental Health curriculum to adopt will be done through a workgroup this summer, June 20-23 (8:30am-3:30pm). School staff will receive curriculum pay for their time. School staff interested in joining this workgroup should email [email protected]or [email protected]. 

This pilot and the scope and sequence development this summer is part of our Healthy Schools program, a 50/50 partnership between Bend-La Pine Schools and Deschutes County Public Health’s Prevention and Health Promotion. More info about Healthy Schools is included at the bottom of the step-by-step guide for this pilot project.

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Summer Meals  – Alandra is working with Garra in Nutrition Services to communicate changes to summer meals as well as meals for the 2022-23 school year. Watch for that info in English and Spanish next week to share. (If you already shared communication from Nutrition Services, that’s great. This is likely one that we will share multiple times because it marks a significant change for families.)

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Breathalizing: Past practice in our high school dances and graduation has been to breathalize every student and notify families and students we are doing so prior to the event. Notification has usually been through each school’s student handbook. We will not breathalize this year because we are still navigating COVID. Let’s plan to revisit this practice next year.

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Calendar:

HERE is the calendar for meetings for the year

Here is a sample Learning Walk schedule you can use as a guide to plan that visit.

SIW schedule

April 25: MS and HS Staffing meeting; Principals with HR (transfers, music discussion) 8:00-9:00 (with MS) 9:00-11:00 (HS Principals) @ BSHS in Perseverance Hall. Principals, bring your music sections/FTE.

Chris shared this information about the parking situation this coming Monday 4/25 for our meeting in Perseverance Hall in the Robert D. Maxwell Center:  We will leave the back gate open.  People can park on the street between the Tech Building and the Robert D. Maxwell Center (formally Alden Street).  They can also park out front and enter through the main entrance. We will provide coffee and light continental snacks.  Appreciate you all!

April 26: HS Admin WS 8:00-9:30 @ Caldera HS (location change!)

April 28: Learning Walk 1:00-3:00 LA and SS @ Realms HS

May 3: HS Admin WS 8:00-9:30 @ Realms HS

May 5: Learning Walk 1:00-3:00 LA and SS @ MVHS

May 9: Preparing to Lead Equitable Schools– Principals only 3:30-5:00 Ed Center, Room 314

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And Finally…

How many of you are feeling like this right about now? 

(FYI – none of you are excused)

TO DO:

From Lora: Discussing YouthTruth with your staff: In Google Drive is a folder named ‘YouthTruth Analysis Supports’ that contains resources to help you lead staff in analyzing YouthTruth results this year. The folder currently contains:

• A one-page guide for administrators
• A slide deck to use to introduce staff to YouthTruth surveys and data 
• A handout about data analysis to share with staff when leading them through YouthTruth data 
• Two protocols for digging into YouthTruth data – one for secondary and one for elementary

The secondary protocol looks at student survey data related to the theme of Academic Challenge. The elementary protocol looks at family survey data related to the theme of Communication & Feedback. These themes were selected because, as a district, for two consecutive years, Academic Challenge and Communication & Feedback have been clearly identified as areas where we as a district must improve greatly. These protocols are designed to support simple ‘plug and play’, or to be expanded on using other facilitation tools.

We are asking that every school staff spend some time digging into Youth Truth data before the end of the school year. I want to be clear that school leaders are NOT required to use these particular tools/resources/protocols for digging into Youth Truth. Schools ARE required to have some sort of process that will allow staffs to explore relevant Youth Truth data. Having all schools dig into similar data is critical for building a shared understanding across our organization of our current strengths, areas for improvement, and potential next steps to make our schools even better. 

In addition, we are asking all principals to review staff survey results, including comments. With your ICCL team or with the whole staff, if you prefer, share 1-2 of your school’s strengths, according to staff, and 1-2 areas for growth.

Please reach out to Dave VanLoo or your level leaders with any questions or thoughts. Thanks for all you do.  Lora

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Important Reminders:

Please submit your safety plan AND indoor contingency plan for Graduation by May 2. We will review them at our May 5 COVID meeting. There are two circumstances that will require us to move graduation indoors and therefore need a contingency plan: unsafe smoke levels and lighting/thunder.

Be sure to allow a time during your ceremony in which Dr. Cook accepts the class.

22-23 HS School design plans are due by May 13.   Here is the link to the School Design folder. HERE is a link to the essential questions Dave Van Loo prepared to guide thinking about plan design.

Information:

Here is the LINK to the presentation from the Roseburg team last week. It was helpful to learn about how a high school of 1700 students has organized their MTSS model. There are many similarities between the transitions and supports we provide for our 9th grade students. As we continue our journey to embed more inclusive practices in student management, I understand this is a significant mind set shift and that we still need to work closely together to align our practices and support the realities you face in the buildings.

I also recognize that we have been navigating this change during a pandemic and it has been challenging. This is not easy work and I applaud you for the efforts you are making on behalf of our most marginalized students. Our students “the furthest from justice” need us to think differently about how we support them because we are not OK for 25%+ of our population to consistently not find success in our schools. Thank you to the high schools who shared their learnings during the two day visit with the Roseburg team: Caldera HS, Realms HS and Summit HS.

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From Dean: Next week is the voluntary Educator Network Day which provides an opportunity for you to meet with teachers in the same content area.  The Educator Network Days are led by ICCLs in each content area.  You will be time sheeted for your time collaborating with your peers.

Educator Network Day Opportunities

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Update from Jennifer Hauth: Optional Educator Network School Counselor Professional Learning

Please encourage your school counselors to attend the optional training on Wednesday from 2:30 to 4:00 pm at Caldera High School in Room 210.  We will be reviewing school specific Youth Truth data in the social-emotional and engagement categories. The goal is to support counselors in using this information to take the next steps in building a data informed, comprehensive school counseling program.

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Personal days – It’s that time of year where people will be cashing in their personal days.  Please remember the 5% rule.  No more than 5% of your bargaining unit (certified) can be out on the same day with personal days.  As Steve Herron mentioned last week at our meeting, it is up to the school to keep track.  Rule of thumb is that for larger schools, It’s 2 people. Please pass this information on to your office managers so they can help you manage these requests so you don’t approve too many for one day.

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Calendar:

HERE is the calendar for meetings for the year

Here is a sample Learning Walk schedule you can use as a guide to plan that visit.

SIW schedule

April 18, 19, 20: Katie at a conference in Virginia

April 25: MS and HS Staffing meeting; Principals with HR (transfers, music discussion) 8:00-9:00 (with MS) 9:00-11:00 (HS Principals) @ BSHS in Perseverance Hall

April 26: HS Admin WS 8:00-9:30 @ BTA@MHS

April 28: Learning Walk LA and SS @ Realms HS

May 3: HS Admin WS 8:00-9:30 @ Realms HS

May 9: Preparing to Lead Equitable Schools– Principals only 3:30-5:00 Ed Center, Room 314

To Do:

Job Fair Monday: Just a reminder that the job fair will be this Monday: April 11 from 12:00 – 6:00 pm, with lunch provided for administrators.  We will be meeting with candidates from 1:00 – 6:00 and are continuing the past practice of asking all administrators to be present to interview candidates for a two-and-a-half hour shift.  Buildings with two or more administrators need to have at least one admin present at all times during the event.

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Important Reminders:

Please submit your safety plan AND indoor contingency plan for Graduation by May 2. We will review them at our May 5 COVID meeting. There are two circumstances that will require us to move graduation indoors and therefore need a contingency plan: unsafe smoke levels and lighting/thunder.

Be sure to allow a time during your ceremony in which Dr. Cook accepts the class.

22-23 HS School design plans are due by May 13.   Here is the link to the School Design folder. HERE is a link to the essential questions Dave Van Loo prepared to guide thinking about plan design.

Information:

Summer School: Please share this link about Summer School employment opportunities with your staff. Kevin Milner is the administrator leading this work and Dean is our HS lead.

“Home Bound Tutoring –
Teachers, if you are interested in making a few extra dollars this spring, or long term we are in desperate need for Home Instructor/Tutors. If you have any interest or questions, please reach out to Josh Marks via email or phone for specific details. [email protected] or 541-355-1060.”

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From our Secondary TOSA’s and Dean: We are in the final stretch of an incredibly challenging year. Each of us have given all that we can to support our students in ways that we never knew we had in us. Baked into the teacher DNA is hard work and dedication to our students. 

Remember as we see the end of the 2021-22 school year in our sights, that we must take care of ourselves in order to be ready to help our students finish strong. 

This week’s blog is from Culture of Care Coach (and former Bend High School Psychologist) Amy Yillik. She shares strategies to help us make the final push.

10 Tips for Getting to the Finish Line

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From our Secondary TOSA’s and Dean: Do you and your students get high anxiety this time of year due to end of the year summative assessments? If so, read on about ideas that can be used in your classroom to help reframe and reduce that anxiety.

Linda Adams, Mathematics TOSA, shares a personal story about how she helped her students excel when the pressure was high.

Supporting Students During High Stakes Testing

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From Melissa in Tech – In a blink, here we are again at the time to look at end-of-year purchasing! We’re sending this reminder out even earlier this year because we are still experiencing some availability and shipping delays. Lots of things are in our stock now or can arrive quickly, but many items like projectors, iPads, and some computers and monitors still take weeks longer than we’re used to. We are trying to maintain a reasonable number of difficult-to-obtain items in our stock, but we can’t guarantee numbers once everyone starts buying. We’ll do our best to fill your requests or offer a work-around, and the more time we have to do this before the deadline, the better our odds of success.  Please keep in mind that all materials purchased under the current year’s budget must be physically received by our department by June 30, with paperwork to prove delivery date. There is no flexibility in this deadline and our accountants do follow up on dates listed on tracking and delivery. Anything received after June 30 will be returned to the vendor or that money will have to come out of next year’s budget.

This year, we are encouraging all 2022-23 orders to be placed by early May to maximize the odds of those items arriving by the deadline. This time of year is always busy, so earlier is better for getting your purchase requests in. Please don’t hesitate to email me any questions you might have. I’ll be out of the office for the rest of this week but will catch up and start placing orders next week.

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From Scott Bojanowski: It has been brought to our attention that some schools have their secure vestibule unsecured and propped open. We need to ensure that schools are meeting the expectation that their school entries are locked and that vestibules are being secured properly. 

It is unacceptable to prop doors open or left unlocked for the sake of convenience. Safety must be a priority at all times. The district works hard to create a culture of safety and we appreciate your attention to this important detail.

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Calendar:

April 11: Central Oregon Job Fair 12:00-6:00 @Redmond Fair Grounds

April 12: HS Admin Work Session 8:00-9:30 @ MVHS

April 13: HS Admin PD with Roseburg HS/District Team 2:00-3:00 @ Ed Center room 314

April 14: Principals WS (staffing/transfers) 8:00-9:00 @ Ed Center room 312

April 14: Learning Walk LA and SS 1:00-3:00@ CHS cancelled and will be rescheduled!

April 18, 19, 20: Katie at a conference in Virginia

May 9th: Preparing to Lead Equitable Schools– Principals only 3:30-5:00 Ed Center, Room 314

Think abouts...

Check out this interesting article from an experienced teacher writing in “The Conversation.” The author shares about how her students learn more by offering feedback, not assigning a grade, “One student, a senior, thanked me for treating them like adults. As for my interest in equity, I found that students who were less well prepared did indeed develop their skills; their growth was substantial, and both they and I recognized it.” This is not a new concept and Dylan Williams provides ample research to support this strategy.

To Do:

Leading Equitable Schools “Unconscious Bias in Schools” Book study for Principals: Monday April 4 is our next session for our study of Unconscious Bias in Schools.  In preparation, please read chapters 4-6. Want to be better prepared for next time?  Mark your calendars for Monday, May 9 and be ready with chapters 7-10. 

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From Lora: LEAD Cohort Promotion

The LEAD Cohort is part of our district’s key strategies to support staff in promoting dialogue on equity and anti-racism, so that teachers can facilitate positive and safe critical conversations in all classrooms.  We cannot wait for bias incidents to occur to communicate our values of inclusion and equity: we must be proactive and intentional in ongoing work, and in normalizing conversations about tough stuff before incidents occur-or better yet, to prevent them happening at all. 

Please ensure that teachers in your building clearly see your explicit support for their implementation of LEAD Cohort strategies.  They will know you expect them to engage in this work when you…

• are familiar with the LEAD website strategies and resources yourself, 
• share those resources with them directly,  
• encourage peer sharing and engagement with district LEAD Cohort representatives, 
• look for the strategies in practice during mini-observations, and 
• reflect alongside your teachers and ask questions about LEAD strategies during debrief conversations. 

The resources on the LEAD website are constantly changing and being updated.  (Coming soon: more video examples of the lessons, and specific Ethnic Studies, Language, Health, and other standards identified throughout the links and descriptions.)  Check it out here, and consider bookmarking and/or sharing via your own staff blogs.  

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From Ryan in HR – Here is the link to the Central Oregon Job Fair sign-up sheet for administrators. The job fair will be April 11 from 12:00 – 6:00 pm, with lunch provided for administrators.  We will be meeting with candidates from 1:00 – 6:00 and are continuing the past practice of asking all administrators to be present to interview candidates for a two-and-a-half hour shift.  Buildings with two or more administrators need to have at least one admin present at all times during the event.

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Please share this with your teachers, from Stephen DuVal: Hello, we are looking to start a list of high school staff interested in starting new college dual credit articulations. Dual credit can be a great opportunity for students to earn college credit while they take a course in their own high school.  Often, articulation is easier than you may think, and we are looking into ways of qualifying staff who on the surface may not have the required credentials.  If you are interested in exploring an opportunity, regardless of qualification, could you please fill out this form?  

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An important message from Kim Crabtree about field trips: Transportation can now offer field trips on a limited basis between route times, 9:30 AM- 1:30 (buses must be back to your school by 1:30)

Transportation for field trips is NOT available on Wednesdays. 

Trip requests must be submitted (by teacher or office manager) and approved (by office manager or principal) no later than 3-4 weeks prior to the trip date.

Trip requests are then forwarded to Executive Directors for prioritization approval. 

From the prioritization and approval list, transportation will look for availability. This is the FINAL approval step. 

Transportation will then approve/decline 1-2 weeks prior to the trip. 

We are receiving a lot of requests very late and individual emails (we really do not want these 🙂); our routers are becoming overwhelmed.  I am hoping that the above message can help alleviate some confusion.  If you are declining due to lack of subs, can you please let the school know (because they are then calling us can trying to negotiate). Please share this process with your staff. Thank you for your help, Kim Crabtree!

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To Do Reminders:

Please take note of these important due dates:

Please submit your mitigation plan for your PROM by April 4. We will review them at our April 7 COVID meeting.

Please submit your safety plan AND indoor contingency plan for Graduation by May 2. We will review them at our May 5 COVID meeting. There are two circumstances that will require us to move graduation indoors and therefore need a contingency plan: unsafe smoke levels and lighting/thunder.

Be sure to allow a time during your ceremony in which Dr. Cook accepts the class. He is also planning to do a 20 min speech during each graduation. Plan accordingly.

22-23 HS School design plans are due by May 13.   Here is the link to the School Design folder. HERE is a link to the essential questions Dave Van Loo prepared to guide thinking about plan design.

Information:

Parent Conferences: are in person and are scheduled for the weeks of April 11th and 18th. We agreed to run parent conferences similarly to an open house format and are scheduling them so we can provide interpreters for those families who need them. Here are the dates by school: BSHS April 11 4-8; BTA@MHS April 14 4-8; CHS April 18 4-8; LPHS and MVHS April 19: 4-8. Realms, please share your date when you have it.

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Role of Canvas: At our recent principal breakfast, we spoke of revisiting the role of Canvas. Canvas will continue to continue to be our learning management moving forward. However, how teachers and students use and access this tool will likely look different now that we are no longer quarantining students. Dean will be working with our Instructional Tech team and First Responders to design a proposal.

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Student Teachers – FYI – if you have a university reaching out to you or to teachers directly for student teacher placement please refer them to Ryan Kelling in HR.  He is going to be the point of contact for our universities on this topic.  We are being very purposeful in our placements, as great teachers are grown by working with great teachers.

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Check out Summer professional learning opportunities – Click here!

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Visitor Update – Starting Monday, April 4th, you may have a visitor come to school that fits the “Guest Speaker and Outside Presenter” Administrative Regulation definition.  They must sign into Raptor and wear the name tag.  Guests and Visitors must be supervised by school staff at all times and may not work alone with students. 

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Volunteers – If you have a parent signed up to volunteer, they must abide by our volunteer rules, meaning that they need to go through the volunteer application system, upload vaccination card/exception paperwork and be approved.  They also need to sign in and wear the Raptor sticker when they are there to volunteer.  There have been some parent volunteers that work with the ESD and BLPS, that have come in using their work credentials/name badges and argued about needing to sign in the system.  All volunteers need to follow the same protocols. 

Calendar:

HERE is the calendar for meetings for the year

Here is a sample Learning Walk schedule you can use as a guide to plan that visit.

SIW schedule

April 4: Preparing to Lead Equitable Schools–Principals only.  3:30-5:00 Board Room

April 4, 5 and 6: Katie out.

April 5: Principal Work Session rescheduled for April 14 8:00-9:00@ Ed Center room 312

April 7: Learning Walk LA and SS 1:00-3:00@BSHS

April 12: HS Admin Work Session 8:00-9:30 @ MVHS

April 14: Principals WS (staffing/transfers) 8:00-9:00 @ Ed Center room 312

April 14: Learning Walk LA and SS 1:00-3:00@ CHS

April 18, 19, 20: Katie at a conference in Virginia